


I Didn't Want You to Be Alone

by BirdOfHermes



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 10:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10695042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdOfHermes/pseuds/BirdOfHermes
Summary: Natasha consoles Steve after the passing of Peggy Carter. Civil War mini-AU.





	I Didn't Want You to Be Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Let's pretend that the Accords signing wasn't an immediate action and that Nat had the rest of the day of Peggy's funeral to keep Steve company and none of the bad shit happened that particular day. Just some thoughts I had about how it might have gone if Nat had time to take care of Steve, as a friend, and if you squint, a little more.

She spends the rest of the day with him.

It’s not as difficult as it sounds, actually. After their quiet chat in the chapel, Natasha takes Steve to lunch, teases him lightly, gets him to smile, and that’s what finally coaxes him into eating. She knows him well enough that if she hadn’t been there, he’d have curled up and hidden inside himself with the raw pain that had already emptied him out the minute he saw that text message. She invites Sam along, but he politely declines, and she’s almost shocked until he explains himself.

“Steve’s a very…particular kind of guy,” Sam explains, smiling faintly from where he sits on a park bench, intermittently munching on some chips. “We’re cool, but I think if I show up, he’ll do that thing he does. You know the one. Where he keeps a brave face so no one can see he’s ready to break down. The guy’s a natural born leader. Always wants to show his strongest side to rally the troops. Even to me.”

Sam pauses, and adds softly, “But not to you.”

Natasha smirks. “Is that a crack on me being a girl?”

Sam rolls his eyes. “You’d kick my ass if it was. No, it’s not that. I know he trusts me, but it’s different. You’ve seen him at his worst, and he’s comfortable with that. We haven’t gotten there just yet. Take care of him for me, alright? I’ll be around when he’s ready to get back to it.”

“I will. Be safe, Sam.”

“You too, Natasha.”

After they’re done eating, she takes him to the biggest park she can find nearby and they spend the rest of the day just walking around it. Most of it is silent, but she nudges him when she notices that he’s starting to crawl into his head again. She never forces things from him. Always gentle suggestions. 

At sundown, she takes him to dinner and then an evening showing of some foreign comedy film. He smiles mostly, laughs a little, and writes down the director’s name to look up his filmography later. 

They get back to the hotel late. Walking him up to his room is the only strange thing about today. It feels entirely too much like a date to her, and she banishes the thought the instant it materializes in her head. Steve fiddles with his key card along the way. It’s actually a little cute.

“Thank you,” he whispers, tapping the card against his fingertips as he can’t seem to meet her eyes right now. Maybe he’s worried she’ll see what’s in them. Silly man. 

“For today. I, uh…I know you had other things you could’ve been doing—”

“You would have done the same for me,” Nat says softly. “We both know it. I’m exactly where I should be, Steve.”

He nods too many times. “Still, though. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

She takes a deep breath as he opens the door. Natasha Romanoff is a master of body language, whether analyzing that of other people’s or perfectly projecting her own for whatever her needs are. Steve Rogers is all but crumbled in front of her, but he has just enough pride not to ask the question that’s hanging over the both of them and has been ever since she hugged him in the chapel. 

“I also know you well enough to tell you that the answer is yes.”

Steve pauses, turns, and raises his eyebrows at her. “The answer to what question, exactly?”

Nat shakes her head. “I thought you were always honest.”

He frowns slightly in confusion. “I am.”

“Steve,” she says gently. “If you want me to stay the night, I will. Not because you’re not strong enough to handle it. You’re a soldier. I know what happens at night when soldiers grieve. Needing someone isn’t a weakness. It’s human nature.”

He stares at her, surprised, cautious, breathing a little too fast and a little too shallow. He shakes his head. “I can’t ask you to do that, Nat. I can get by on my own.”

“You don’t have to. Neither of us has to.”

His blue eyes widen the slightest bit at her quiet admittance. She watches the realization spill over him, the knowledge that she’d shared something small yet fragile with him, something she kept hidden almost as much as he kept the loss of the world he used to know hidden inside him. 

Steve licks his lips, nods again, and steps aside. Nat walks in. The door shuts them into a brief, deafening silence. 

Nat grins at him. “I’m too lazy to go get my pajamas, so fork over a t-shirt, Rogers.”

He chuckles. “Yes ma’am.”

Nat showers leisurely. She doesn’t even mind using Steve’s Old Spice soap instead of the bizarre-smelling soap provided by the hotel. He’s given her just a clean, plain t-shirt and with their height difference, it might as well be a dress on her. She’s happy it’s unintentionally modest. She gets the feeling Steve would embarrass easily otherwise. 

The lights are off when she steps out of the bathroom. Steve is lying on the side facing the door—she resists the urge to tease him about it, since it probably meant he’d want a potential threat to deal with him first if it came to that—his eyes closed even though she knows he’s not asleep yet. He’s wearing sleeveless shirt and loose boxers. Good. She’d never let him live it down if she found out he slept in full buttoned up PJs like the people in the 40’s and 50’s. 

She slides in next to him on the mattress and cuddles her pillow, settling in. She listens to his breaths, counts them out to see if he’s any closer to drifting off. Almost half an hour passes. He’s still awake. 

Nat rolls over and scoots until she’s close enough to rest an arm along his side. She tucks herself comfortably behind him, her face between his shoulder blades, her soft, lithe form just barely touching him beneath the sheets. He doesn’t react at first, but as time presses on, she feels his limbs slowly relax more and more. Just under an hour from when he lay down, Steve drifts off to sleep. Nat smiles to herself and follows him shortly afterward.

-

She wakes up alone.

It’s actually quite startling. She’d fine-tuned her senses to detect even the smallest hint of movement or sound when she sleeps and yet she sits up, her scarlet hair curly and fluffy around her head, blinking with confusion at the sunlight streaming in through the windows. She hasn’t slept this deeply in years. Odd. 

The door opens. For a second, she almost reaches for the blade hidden in the lining of her coat, but it’s just Steve…carrying a huge tray laden with food.

“Oh, you’re up,” he says, making his way over to the small table across from the bed. “Good. Didn’t want to wake you.”

Nat rubs her eyes. He blinks at her. “What?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just Captain America bringing me breakfast is a little hard to believe,” she teases, tossing the sheets back and padding over to him. He’s gotten her the works, too: coffee, blueberry scones, orange juice, scrambled eggs, sausage, turkey bacon, and hashbrowns. 

“Least I could do,” he answers. He pauses and then stoops enough to press a small, nervous, but heartfelt kiss on her cheek. His big, warm hand finds hers and squeezes.

“Thanks, Nat.”

She smiles and reaches for a scone. “Anytime, Steve.”

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> "I can get by on my own."  
> "The thing is...you don't have to."
> 
> -
> 
> "Then what are you doing here?"  
> "I didn't want you to be alone."
> 
> Honestly, these are two of my favorite character-related scenes out of all of the MCU. So good I had to echo them in this fic, in fact. I think Steve and Nat have an incredibly treasured, unique bond with each other and I hope we get to see more of it in the future. They'll probably never become romantic, but I certainly think there are sparks between them based on their interactions in The Winter Soldier and Civil War.
> 
> And it doesn't help that Chris Evans actually ships it.
> 
> Thanks for reading my nonsense. I was crushed to see Peggy pass away in the canon, so I would have liked this much help dealing with it too.


End file.
